Shawdesh desk:

A national power grid failure on Tuesday paralysed the country’s eastern part, including Dhaka, Chattogram, Sylhet and Mymensingh divisions, causing immense sufferings to people as emergency services like health, telecommunications and internet operations were severely disrupted.

People also suffered at the immigration services of the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka while there was a huge pressure on petrol pumps as people gathered to buy fuels for generating alternative electricity during the power failure that began at about 2:00pm and continued till 9:15pm in most places.

Offices, household activities and business operations and ATM booths were in great troubles during the period.

Huge crowds of people were found standing in queues at petrol pumps for fuel oils, mainly diesel, for running generators at hospitals, shopping malls, residential and commercial buildings.

Power Grid Company of Bangladesh Limited executive director Md Yeakub Elahi Chowdhury said that the national grid collapsed in the districts of the eastern region of the River Jamuna, including Dhaka, Chattogram, Sylhet and Mymensingh divisions, nearly three-fourths of the country’s total area from about 2:05pm.

‘We primarily assumed that the transmission line tripped somewhere in the Ghorashal Power Plant, resulting in the power failure in the eastern region.  A five-member committee was formed to ascertain the exact reasons for the grid failure,’ he said.

He also said that they had taken power from the country’s western districts, on the west side of the River Jamuna, and started running power plants.

Electricity supply began to be normal in most areas of the capital and other places after about 7 hours at 9:00pm.

Power Division secretary Md Habibur Rahman told New Age at about 10:30pm that they had restored electricity to more than 80 per cent of the country.

‘We could not restore 100 per cent, but no district now has blackout. The remaining areas will get electricity within an hour,’ he said.

Energy expert Mohammad Tamim told New Age that the power failure likely occurred due to problems in a power plant involving transmission, generation or distribution lines, eventually incapacitating all power plants and finally causing the national grid to collapse.

‘For example, if a 40MW power plant collapses, it  will shift its entire power generation load to another power plant, say, having a 100MW capacity, creating a 140MW load for this plant. But a power plant cannot take more than 10 per cent of its load and as a result all power plants in the process collapse,’ he explained.

He said that those restoring power generation in the collapsed power plants required time as they had to adjust the load distribution according to the capacity of plants.

DPDC managing director Bikash Dewan earlier, at about 3:00pm, told New Age that there had been no power supply in the country’s eastern region, including Dhaka city, since 2:05pm.

Power Division secretary Md Habibur Rahman in the evening said, ‘Electricity will start coming back in places of Dhaka city after 5:15pm and many places outside the capital in the evening.’

He said that they had been working and the situation would improve in various places gradually.

However, streets in the capital city wore a dark look in the evening as the street lights were not lit due to the power failure.

During a visit in the evening, no street lights were found operating in the capital, including on Elephant Road, Indira Road, Green Road, from Farmgate to Science Laboratory, Manik Mia Avenue and in front of Basundhara City Shopping Complex.

Dhaka Electric Supply Company Limited managing director Kausar Ameer Ali told New Age that they first started supplying power to the Dhaka airport at 5:18pm when they received 100MW power.

The Association of Mobile Telecom Operators of Bangladesh in a statement in the afternoon said that the national power grid failure might disrupt telecommunications in some parts of the country.

‘Due to the national power grid failure, telecommunications services may be disrupted in some parts of the country,’ the statement said.

‘We are very sorry for the inconvenience,’ it added.

Most of the petrol pumps in the capital became jam-packed as people crowded those and were standing in long queues for more than two to three hours for collecting fuel oils.

People from all walks of life, including those from various residential and commercial buildings and hospitals thronged petrol pumps to collect diesel for running their generators.

Many people were also found at petrol pumps with containers, bottles, vans to collect diesel while few CNG stations were found closed in the afternoon.

Md Siddique, a security guard at Prince Tower on Elephant Road, was found standing in a line at the petrol pump QG Samdani and Co at Nilkhet in the capital for two hours to gather diesel for running the generator at their apartment building.

‘I came here to buy diesel more than two hours ago and am yet to get any,’ he said.

QG Samdani and Co accountant Anwar Hossain said that their operations were as usual before the sudden power failure but after it they began to face huge pressure of consumers.

‘We are giving fuels using generators as fuel dispenser machines require electricity. We cannot run those machines now,’ he added.

In such a situation, shops and general stores even doubled the prices of candles.

They were found selling a candle at Tk 20 instead of its regular price of Tk 10.

Power Development Board director for public relations Shamim Hasan said that a total of three committees were formed to identify the exact causes of the glitch — two were formed by the Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources and the other by the PGCB.

‘About 75 per cent of the areas of Bangladesh went into out of electricity due to the national grid failure,’ he added.

Productions in the country’s most industries, including export-oriented apparel factories, were disrupted while many announced holiday due to the prolonged power disruption.

Faruque Hassan, president of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturer and Exporters Association, said that production in readymade garment sector was affected mostly due to the power failure.

He said that many of the factories tried to continue their operation with diesel-run generators but failed to do so as the power outage was long.

Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association executive president Mohammad Hatem said that production in readymade garment factories was suspended after the grid failure as it was not possible to run the factories for long time with generators.

He said that almost all the knitwear factories in Narayanganj announced holiday after the power glitch.

Power supply was restored in some Dhaka areas, including the president and prime minister’s official residences, at about 5:00pm.

‘No news was, however, found that the puja celebration was disrupted due to the power shortage across the country. Puja was held before 12:00 noon in most of the places across the country, Bangladesh Puja committee central committee leader Taposh Chandra Paul.

Airport officials said that immigration activities slowed down due to the power disruption.

The electricity was yet to be restored in all areas while writing the report at 10:00pm.